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The mobile phone app that can identify a tree by its leaf

Leafsnap uses face-recognition software to
identify a species of tree. Can it create a new generation of conservationists?
Leo Blog : leafsnap mobile phone app

Screengrab of Leafsnap mobile phone app. Photograph: leafsnap.com

To date, the world of mobile phone apps has
largely left me cold. Yes, I can see how you can
easily lose an hour of your life – or more – to
Angry
Birds. But the most interesting and potentially
useful developments I have seen so far are apps
such as Shazam and
RedLaser. The power to
identify and recognise non-text based things such
as images and music points to just how potent and
useful
mobile phones are becoming.

It now appears that we could be about to reach a
significant new landmark. An app has just been
launched that can identify a species of tree from
a photograph of its leaf. Apps exist already that
help you identify flora and fauna – the Forestry
Commission recently launched an app called
ForestXplorer
for identifying trees – but they have
traditionally relied on the user deducing the
species from a list of possible characteristics.

Leafsnap promises something
different: a joint effort by
Columbia
University, the
University of
Maryland, and the
Smithsonian
Institution in the US, it uses the same
technology as face-recognition software to identity the species itself:

This free mobile app helps identify tree species
from photographs of their leaves and contains
beautiful high-resolution images of their
flowers, fruit, petiole, seeds, and bark.
Leafsnap currently includes the trees of New York
City and Washington, D.C., and will soon grow to
cover the trees of the entire continental United States.
Leafsnap turns users into citizen scientists,
automatically sharing images, species
identifications, and geo-coded stamps of species
locations with a community of scientists who will
use the stream of data to map and monitor the ebb and flow of flora nationwide.
The Leafsnap family of electronic field guides
aims to leverage digital applications and mobile
devices to build an ever-greater awareness of and
appreciation for biodiversity.

Personally, I think this is a tremendously
exciting development. Just think what species
recognition software could be next: edible fungi;
rock-pool inhabitants; butterflies; wild flowers;
the list is endless. Couple this with the app's
"geo-coding" potential and it could help to
generate some very powerful data. (Please do
share below any "nature-spotting" apps you have found particularly useful.)

There is a slight lament to note, though. As a
child, I used to enjoy flicking through
wildlife
pocket guides trying to identify species when out
on long walks, or on the beach. I wonder what
impact this software will have on children today
when they know they can identify something within
a matter of a few seconds without any real effort
or engagement? Will that help to educate and
inspire them? Or, conversely, will it tune them
into things they might have otherwise simply ignored?
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* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011